“When I rode in on the bus here, it felt great, it felt like I was coming back home in a sense." -- Chris Bourque

Chris Bourque's hockey highlights historically have generated cheers at Giant Center, the place where he won three Calder Cups with the Hershey Bears.

Chris BourqueHershey Bears

That wasn't the case Saturday night when the winger returned to the building for the first time in an opposition uniform.

Bourque's two-goal, one-assist performance for the Providence Bruins spearheaded a 5-1 victory in Game 3 and generated more boos than applause.

“I love Hershey,” Bourque said. “I have a lot of respect for this town, these fans. I've had a lot of good moments with those fans.

“It's funny to get booed, but what are you going to do? I don't know. I know they're not going to cheer for me when I score. They're passionate. It's good to see.”

The Bears, looking to sweep the best-of-five series, came out storming in the first eight minutes and grabbed a quick lead on Michael Latta's goal at 3:44 of the first period.

Down 2-0 in games and 1-0 on the scoreboard, the P-Bruins seemed in jeopardy of being washed away by Hershey momentum when Bourque struck for a goal that was a turning point in the game and might theoretically be a turning point in the series.

Tipping a Garnet Exelby shot from the top of the right circle at 8:11, Bourque tied the game 1-1. The P-Bruins scored the final four goals of the game to cut Hershey's series advantage to 2-1 and force Game 4 Sunday at Giant Center.

“I think we showed a lot of character coming back and not getting really down on ourselves after they scored an early goal,” Bourque said.

“Maybe the guys were a little bit nervous. We've got a young team here. I think we were kind of on our heels a little bit the first 10 minutes. After we got that goal, I think everyone settled down. I think we played great the second half of the game.”

Bobby Robins and Jamie Tardif (power play) had stretched the lead to 3-1 midway through the second when Matt Bartkowski, with his team already attempting to kill a double minor for a high-sticking penalty on Tommy Cross, cross-checked Ryan Potulny to give Hershey a 5-on-3 lasting a full 2:00.

But the P-Bruins killed it all off. Bourque and Carter Camper (power play) added third-period goals.

“That's a moment in the game that, if we were going to win, you would have to seize that,” Bears head coach Mark French said.

Hershey's power play proficiency – 5-for-10 – was a significant reason the Bears won the first two games of the series.

In Game 3, Providence enjoyed the special teams edge. The P-Bruins went 2-for-4 on the power play while the Bears went 0-for-6.

“Special teams battles matter and they sure did in our building,” P-Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “They got the best of us then and we got the best of them tonight. We lived to fight another day because of it.

“We’ve got to be a whole lot better tomorrow, I know that, because they missed some great chances. I don’t know if we give them a 5-on-3 for a full two minutes they’ll be quite as cordial hosts as they were tonight.”

The Bears generated plenty of opportunities on their power plays. They just didn't put the puck in the net.

“We've got to be more determined to get those to go in,” French said. “I thought we probably got a little too cute after we scored. The execution wasn't there in enough detail tonight to get us to where we need to go.”

Hershey gets another chance to close out Providence in Game 4.

“No one thought it was going to be easy,” Latta said. “First-place team we're playing. At the start of the series, if you said we'd be up 2-1 going into the fourth game, we'd take it.”

The Bears don't face elimination in Game 4. But if Providence wins, it would earn a trip home for a deciding Game 5.

“There's a lot of pressure on both teams right now,” Bourque said. “It's been a good series so far. Last game [Game 2] could have gone either way. They got that game. We got tonight. Obviously, it's another elimination game for us. I'm sure they don't want to come back to Providence and have a Game 5.”

Game 4 means another contest on Giant Center's visitor's bench for Bourque.

“Obviously, it's the place I played the most games in my career, a place I really enjoy,” he said. “When I rode in on the bus here, it felt great, it felt like I was coming back home in a sense. It's kind of where I grew up as a hockey player.”